The UK-based bank has reportedly set out its plans for Britain's exit from the EU.

Lloyds Banking Group has declined to comment that it is planning to operate three subsidiaries in continental Europe after Britain leaves the EU, according to Reuters.

Reports state that the UK-based bank will have a subsidiary in Berlin, Frankfurt and one other unconfirmed location.

This is part of a trend that is seeing lenders distribute their post-Brexit resources among a number of cities on the continent rather than basing the bulk of operations in London. Swiss bank UBS said in March that it would pursue a “decentralised” model, in line with moves by Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and JPMorgan, who asked a number of its employees to relocate from the UK.

Firms are starting to make their long-term plans for the UK's exit from the EU. What this means for the financial services sector is still unknown, as Prime Minister Theresa May battles to achieve a firm cabinet line on Brexit. Arguments centre around whether the UK will quit the bloc entirely or retain some membership of the Customs Union, involving possible limits on the UK's ability to make free trade deals with non-EU nations. There has been a steady diet of stories of how fund managers and banks are considering shifting some operations into countries such as Ireland and Germany to retain a level of EU access. Debate continues on the scale of any shift, given that London is seen as being the dominant financial market in Europe over the medium term.

The financial sector has had a mixed reaction to Brexit. Paris-based Comgest, the independent asset manager, opened its first UK representative office in London, last month, but LGIM (part of Legal & General), on the other hand, has recently moved its European headquarters to Dublin, as reported by this publication. While Brexit will undoubtedly rattle the UK’s financial services sector, a recent survey showed that the number of finance jobs to be shifted out of the country by the March 2019 Brexit deadline has dropped by half to 5,000, compared with earlier forecasts.